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J. L. THOMSON SHOE CLASP. v N0.'282,241. Patented July 31! 1883.

I EI-| WITNEEEEE- illllllm lNvENTEl ,UNITED" STATES PATENT OF ICE;

JUDSON L. THOMSON, or, SYRACUSE, NEW YonK.v

SHOE-CLASP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent-No. 282,241, dated July 31, 1883,

Application filed November 28, 18852. (No model.) I

T0 at whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JUDSON L. THoMsoiv} of Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga, in the State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Shoe-Clasps, of which the following, taken in connection with the acco'mpanying drawings, is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to that class of shoeclasps in which a tongue or clasp proper hingedto a sustaining frame or plate interlooks with a'slotted plate, and is so retained by a spring arranged to hold said tongue down upon its sustaining-plate.

The invention consists in a novel construction of the tonguecarrying plate and spring formed in one piece of sheet metal, all as hereinafter more fully described, and set forth in the claim.

In the annexed drawings, Figure l is a plan View of my improved shoe-clasp. Figs. 2 and 3 are edge views of the same, illustrating its operation 5 and'Fig. 4 is a detached plan view of the plate on which the tongue is hinged, and showing the connection of the spring with said plate.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts. r

B is a metal plate, adapted to be secured in any suitable manner to one of the usual flaps on the front or side of an overshoe. Said plate is provided on the under side of its forward or free end with two semicircular concave bearings, b, for the pintle e of the tongue 0, which is thus hinged on said plate. This tongue is provided with a cam or angular enlargement, c, at the joint thereof.

8 denotes a spring in the form of a plate, attached at one end to the plate B, and bearing with its free end on the cam of the tongue 0, and thereby serving to maintain the pintle e in the bearings b, and to also yieldingly hold the tongue 0 in two of its operative positions-- viz., down upon the plate B, for securely holding the opposite plate, A, interlocked with the plate B, as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings, andup or swung outward from the plate B, to allow the plate A to slip off from the tongue 0 in unfastening the clasp.

The spring 8, I form in one piece with the plate B, by making in the forward portion of said plate or between the pintle-bearings b 12 thereof a transverse 1 slot, 122, and two longitudinal incisions, n at, extending from the ends of the slot m rearward, thus leaving a flexible lip projecting from the body of the plate B, as shown in Fig. 4: of the drawings, said lip constituting the spring 8, which lies withits free end underthe earn 0 of. the tongue 0 and imparts thereto the before-described pressure. The aforesaid plate B, with its pintle-bearings b b and spring 8, I strike up out of a single piece of sheet metal.

The tongue 0, I provide at its hinged end with a rearward-projecting hook. or lug, d, which, in imfastening the clasp, serves to lift off from the plate B the plate A, interlocked therewith, as shown, respectively, in Figs. 3 and 2 in the drawings.

The plate A being provided with two or more transverse slots, a, through one of which the tongue 0 passes in fastening the clasp, and

by swinging the said tongue over onto the plate B, the plate A is drawn toward and down upon the raised bearing b b thereof, the pressure of the spring 8, pressing on the flat face of the cam, serving to hold the tongue down in its aforesaid position, as before described.

The plates A and B may be attached to the usual flaps of an overshoe either by passing said flap through the slots a and 0 of said plates and sewing or otherwise fastening the protruding end onto the rear or fixed end of the flap, or by rivets or eyelets passing through theflap and through a hole, u, in said plates.

Having described my invention,whatI claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s-

In combin ation with the slotted plate A and the tongue 0, provided with the cam c, the plate B, formed with two bearings, b b, 011 which to hinge said tongue, and provided between said bearings with the transverse slot m and longitudinal slots at 12, extending rearward from the slot m, forming the spring S integral with said plate, substantially in the manner shown and described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed 7 my name and affixed my seal, in. the presence 

